Incinerator



July 1, 1930. O, owL I 1,769,880

INCINERATOR Filed Oct. 27, 1927 2 Sheets-sheaf. 1

m \V r V H l nfenTSr Ef/22S//%Zl// (W 45 fmy E. O. HOWLE July 1, 1930.

INCINERATOR Filed Oct. 27, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LLIM IILL Mi! PatentedJuly 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ERNEST O. HOWLE, O]? CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENIS, T MID- WEST INCINERA'I'ORCORPORATION, 01 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A, CORPORATION on DELAWAREINCINERATOB' Application filed. October 27, 1927. Serial No. 229,052.

issuing from the drying material to pass through the burning zone, orcombustion chamber, before they enter the flue.

More specifically, the invention contemplates the use of a hopper orshelf adapted to temporarily support wet materials such as garbage abovethe furnace chamber proper,

Z0 provisions being made to dump these mate-' rials into thefurnacechamber after they have been dried out. e

Another object is to provide an improved combination of grates withinthe incinerator whereby an increased area of the refuse materials willbe exposed to the incoming combustion air.

Another object is to provide, if desired, an incinerator provided withone or more gas jets positioned to project their flames above the grateso as to maintain the combustion without unduly burning the grate.

Another object is to provide the furnace.

with an air-j acket or hollow walled construction through which allcombustion air must pass, in order to preheat the air and reduce theheat lost.

Other objects and advantages of this in vention will be apparent fromthe following detailed description of one approved form of theapparatus.

In'the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of theincinerator. Fig.2 is a central vertical section taken substantially onthe line 2-2 ofFig. 1.

Fig.3 is a partial transverse vertical section, taken substantially atright angles to Fig. 2. I K Fig. 4 is a horizontal section, takensubstantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. K

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail vertical section illustrating one of theburner-shields.

The incinerator comprises an outer steel 5 shell 1, consisting of afront wall 2, a back wall 3, side walls 4:, a bottom 5 and a top 6. Aninner cast iron shell consisting of vertical side walls '7 and a rearwall 8 incloses the furnace and combustion chamber, the walls 7 and 8'being spaced from the walls 4 and} 3 of the outer shell to define an airspace 9 there-- between for preheating the combustion air. Anash-receiving receptacle 10 rests upon the bottom 5 of the casing, andis slidably introduced through an openingin the front wall of the outershell 1, the vertical front wall 11 of the receptacle 10 serving toclose. this opening when the receptacle is in place. A handle 12 isprovided on the front of the receptacle for removing same to empty theashes.

A main horizontal grate 13 is supported in lower. end 16 positionedabove the rear end of horizontal grate 13, and its upper edge 17positioned beneath the ledge 18 which supports the rear wall 8 of theinner casing, which as shown in Fig. 2 terminates directly above therear grate 15. In the example shown, both grates are of the well knowntype consisting of spaced parallel bars 19, with' elongated spaces 20therebetween.

Suitable air inlets 21 are provided in-the upper portions of the outerside walls 4:, sliding dampers 22 being provided to regulate these airinlets. The pre-heated air passes from the space 9 between the sidewalls 95 through openings 24 at the bottom of the casing into the ash.receiving space and thence up through the rate. Air also passes throughthe opening 25 in the rearportion of the inner side walls 7 into thespace 26,100 p 70 the lower portion of the incinerator above the Ibehind the rear grate 15 and thence through this grate into thecombustion chamber.

An inlet opening 27 in the front wall 2 of the outer casing, slightlyabove the grate 13, is normally closed by a door 28 hinged in anysuitable manner at 29, and provided with a catch 30 and a handle 31. Adamper 32 of usual form may be provided in door 28. A chute 33 formedwithin the inlet opening 27 projects, inwardly and downwardly to directdry materials inserted through this opening onto the horizontal grate13.

A pair of gas burners 34, supplied from gas manifold 35 and controlledby gas valves 36 and air inlet valves 37, are mounted in the front wall2 directly above the grate 13 and one at either side of chute 33. Theoutlet openings of these burners are beveled or undercut as indicated at38 so as to minimize the danger of materials which are introduced intothe incinerator clogging the gas outlets. To increase this protection,shields 39 (best shown in Fi 5) are mounted between the chute 33 an sidewalls 7, and have front portions 40 slightl overhanging the burners 34so as to shiel these burners as far as possible from the materialswithin the incinerator. It will be noted that these burners roject theirflames into the material in the rnace'chamber directly above the grate13 so as to obtain the maximum benefit of these flames in maintainingthe combustion, while at the same time minimizing the heat to which thegrate 13 is subjected. In the usual form, wherein the burners areprojected upwardly through the ate from beneath, a great deal of theheat rom these burners is wasted in heating the grate.

A secondinlet opening 41 is provided in the forward portion of the topplate 6 of the shell 1, this opening being provided withv a cover 42having a handle 43 by which the cover may be conveniently lifted. Thisopening 41 is used for the introduction of garbage and other wet refuse.A flue or outlet 44 for the seous products of combustion is provided inthe rear portion of top plate 6, this flue communicating with a chimney45. A- baffle plate 46, (provided with spacedopenings 47, pro ectsownwardly from the top 6 between the inlet 41 and the outlet 44. Thisbaflie46 forms a vertical partition extending between the inner sidewalls 7 and downwardly to approximately the upper level of the backgrate 15, thus-forming the front wall of a combustion chamber 48 throughwhich the hot gases must pass on their way to the outlet flue 44.

A curved plate or hopper 49 of substan .tially the width of the spacebetween inner side walls 7 is hinged at" its upper edge by means ofoutwardly projectingtrunnions 50 .which engage in slots 51 in the innercasing adjaoentthe upper front corners of the .incmerator. The lowerportion of this plate the hopper into the furnace cham 2 it will form ahopper adapted to cooperate with the baflle wall 46 in temporarilysupporting in the drying chamber 53 the garage or other Wet refuseinserted through the inlet opening 41. A rod or bar 54 is hinged at 54to an intermediate portion of hopper 49, extends'outwardly through aslot or opening 55 in the front wall 2 and terminates in a handle 56. Anotch 57 in bar 54 is adapted to be engaged with the front wall 2whereby bar 54 will act as a support to maintain the hopper 49 in thesupporting position indicated in full lines in Fig. 2. By slightlyraising the handle 56 and disengaging the notch 57 from wall 2 thehopper may be swung downwardly to the position indicated in dotted linesin Fig. 2 so as to dump the material formerly suppprted by r above thegrate 13.

In operation, the hopper 49 will normally be maintained in the full lineposition indicated in the drawings. Dry refuse will be introduced intothe incinerator through the front inlet opening 27, and garbage or otherwet refuse will be introduced through the upper opening 41. Whensuflicient refuse has been accumulated, the burning will be started bylighting the gas burners 34. No great amount of heat is required fromthe burners which are merely necessary to initiate and maintain thecombustion. The heat produced by the burning materials upon the grates13 and 15 will heat the incoming combustion air which must pass betweenthe in-' ner and outer casings, thus utilizing to preheat thecombustion, air heat that would otherwise be lost through radiation. Thecombustible materials will not only be suported upon the bottom grate 13but will also e piled against the rear upwardly inclined grate 15 sothat the area of this material exposed to the incoming combustion airwill be considerably increased and the combustion facilitated. The hotgaseous products of combustion will pass upwardly through the combustionchamber 48 and outwardly through the flue 44 to chimney 45. During thispassage they will impinge against the lower surface of hopper 49 andheat the wet materials in storage chamber 53. The malodorous vapors andgases driven off from the drying materials will pass out from thestorage chamber 53, through opening 58 between hopper 49 and baflie wall46', and through openings 47 in the baflle wall into the combustionchamber 48 where they meet the hot combustion gases rising from thefurnace and are broken down-or consumed so that only unobectionablegases pass out through the flue 44. When the material supported b the hoper 49 has been sufficiently dried, t e hand e 56 ma be lifted andpulled forwardly so as to ump the dried material into the furnacechamber wherein it will be consumed along with the other dry materialswhich have been insertedthrough the front inlet opening 27. Ashes andother'incombustible materials will fall through the-grate 13 into theash recep:

tacle 10, and the lower grate 13 .may be pushed back along thesupporting brackets 14 so that incombustible materials too large to passthrough the grate ma be scraped .or umped into receptacle 10. e asheswill be disposed of in the usual manner by withdrawing receptacle '10from the incinerator. I claim: An incinerator comprising a casing, theupper portion of the casing having a doublewalled' construction, withair intakes communicating with the space between the walls,

there being an ash-receiving spacein the lower portion of the casing, ahorizontal grate positioned above the ash space, a back grate projectingupwardly from the horizontal grate to the rear wall of the casing, aninlet opening in the front wall of the casing, a door for the opening, achute projecting inwardly from the opening for-delivering materials ontothe grate, a gas burner mounted in 'one wall of the casing andprojecting above the horizontal grate, a flue outlet in the upper rearportion of the casing, an inlet for wet materials in the upper frontportion of the casing, a perforated baflle plate projecting downwardlybetween this latter inlet opening and the flue outlet, a hopper platepivotally mounted in the upper front portion of the casing, and meansfor swinging this plate into position and supporting same beneath theupper. inlet opening so as to support wet materials above the furnacechamber.

ERNEST O. HOWLE.

